World gymnastics champion shown the door

July 30, 2012 | Filed under: Life & Style | Posted by:

Though United States’ Women’s Olympic gymnast team beat China, but there was shock awaiting the team fans back home. Everyone was hoping that their top gymnast Jordyn Wieber will certainly win an Olympics gold medal. She was such a great performer for the last several years and is the world champion in gymnastics. But yesterday it was simply not her day and she wobbled on many steps, leaving her teammates disappointed.

Had it not been for her other teammates, the US team would have been thrown out of this important competition. One thing that helped the team excel despite their top medal prospect suffering a very bad day was the fact that overall, the team has the best gymnasts among top teams and was well prepared to compensate the loss of any athlete, even if it was their top gymnast.

McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman not just filled Jordyn Wieber spot, but also came up with so impressive performance that they won the hearts and minds of spectators in the Olympic Village and their fans back home.

Wieber is among the best gymnasts that the world has seen in the last few decades and her failure at Olympics doesn’t belittle her achievements in the sport. Wieber’s powerful style of gymnastics draws comparisons to 2008 Olympic beam champion Shawn Johnson. “It’s flattering,” Wieber said.” She’s such a great gymnast it’s kind of cool to be compared to someone that great.”  She missed 2009 Nationals with a hamstring injury. Hoping to reclaim her title (2008 junior all-around national champion) in 2010, Wieber injured both ankles during warm-ups before prelims. She tried to compete, but after several mistakes, Wieber decided to withdraw before finals.

Jordyn Wieber was so much disappointed by her personal performance that she didn’t spoke with the media. Her coach John Geddert who was also disappointed with her pupil’s performance told the media in a statement, “I’m basically devastated for her. She has trained her entire life for this day and to have it turn out anything less than she deserves is going to be devastating. She has waited her entire career for this. She is happy for her teammates and disappointed that she doesn’t get (to) move on.” But in sports upsets are normal and a small misstep can mar the chances of any athlete on any given day.

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Posted by on July 30, 2012. Filed under Life & Style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
  • liliana

    Stupid rule!

  • Hannah

    I’m sorry but I don’t think it’s fair to call her performance a failure. Sh had little mistakes any 17 yearold could have going into her first competition of th Olympics with the pressure of aa gold. She still finished forth despite not being her best. Amy and gabby simply had less. Edges of you ask me. I will have trouble calling the Olympic champ #1 in the world if the best weren’t all there to fight for it.

  • HM

    Stupid rule? Why? If you aren’t the best, then step aside and let the best compete! If Ali could cut it when Jordyn couldn’t then let Ali go for the gold! Jordyn still has a chance for a team gold medal as long as she can put the jitters aside and post some solid scores. We don’t give gold medals for “oh but I was number one last month.”

  • Derp

    Bullshit, Gabrielle Douglas was the disappointment of this whole thing.

    Flop out of bounds on the Floor Routine and still manage to get through?

    Utter bullshit on the Judges parts.

  • KR

    HM,
    Where the unfairness lies is that Jordyn is definitely a better gymnast than the top 2 qualifiers from other countries. Her score from the qualifying rounds will prove that she is. However, because of the 2 person rule, she will not even have a chance despite having a higher score than other qualifiers. They should not give a spot to another person who scored lower just because they didn’t have to compete with the powerhouse girls of the US for a spot.

  • nope

    The rule was labeled “stupid” as it requires the best two athletes from every country to advance instead of the best regardless of country advance.

    The US team had three of the best athletes overall but only two of them advanced. There were several inferior athletes that got to advance because they happen to be from another country.

    Some people would rather watch the best in the world compete in finals regardless of how many different countries advance that far.

  • REM

    It is a stupid rule that one country can only send two because out of those competing for AA finals, she is 4th! She is better than the other four who continue on to finals from other countries. Wiener was only .600 points behind first place. She was solid and deserved to go forward.

  • REM

    Gabby Douglas had such high scores on other apparatus that her one tenth deduction for stepping out of bounds is not going to hurt her. She had the best bar routine, strong on everything else.

  • David Mech

    I hope Jordyn earns the highest all-around score, even if this stupid doesn’t allow her score to be counted.

    We’ll all know that she’s the olympic champion, even if the medal isn’t hanging around her neck.

  • Alaska

    I think in total the call was utter bullshit, Gabby messed up on her performance and ended up hopping about 4-6 steps out of bounds AND both her feet landed outside the line… Jordyn barely landed out of the lined area, she should have scored much better than she did. Terrible Judges, absolutely rigged.

  • A. K. Brown

    Explain to me how a minor heel-step out of bounds deserves a more severe punishment than going COMPLETELY out of bounds by 4 steps as Gabby Douglas did? I completely agree with Bela Karolyi – where did all these other deductions come from? The simple fact is, Jordyn was GROSSLY underscored and did not deserve to be cut. Gabby is a very talented athlete, but her mistakes were far more significant, and she should not be in the all-around. That was ridiculous.

  • bs

    I think her performance was extremely underscored. Gaby Douglas took sooo many steps out of bounds she should have been out of the all around finals. It is so stupid Jordyn is such a wonderful performer and gymnast there is no way she should have been beaten for the all around. Ali raisman had a wonderful competition and she earned her spot, I feel as though the judges took so much of Jordyn’s performance for a small mistakes while Gaby DOuglas took at least 4 steps out of bounds. I think it is ridiuclous and that it is a very stupid rule to not allow the top 21 gymnasts in the world to compete. SSSSOOOOOOOOOO stupid. These judges are being far too strict and they made a horrible choice, I feel as though the chance for the U.S. to bring the All Around gold home has been lost.

  • Jojo

    Okay, taken that today wasn’t Jordyn’s best day. However calling her performance a failure is totally incorrect. She proved herself to be one of the best athletes in the world, and don’t forget she WAS IN THE TOP 24. The rule is whats stupid. Its not our fault that more than 2 of the top 24 come from the USA. They worked hard and deserved this and it is totally unfair that that girl in the 25th place makes the all arounds because Jordyn aly and gaby are all from our country. Basically, America’s gymnastics is beyond compare and the Olympic Committee need to find a way to even things out. This rule is plain stupid and unfair, all the gymnastics performed amazing and Jordyn didn’t get what she deserved.

  • passionate

    JORDYN did a wonderful job! Politics is strong in the Olympics. Our team is a GOLDEN threat. Knock the World Champion out with low scoring and it makes it convenient for another country with different political affiliation to have coveted title. I agree with Bela, the BEST in the world should be up for coveted title. I agree with Elfie Schlagel when she said IOC should open the flood gates and let the best perform. That’d be amazing and super for the sport! Here’s to hopeful thinking. Congrats to Gabby and Aly! GO GET TEAM GOLD USA!!!

  • Chris Nickel

    The rule that allows only the top two from any one team to advance regardless of the other teams scores is very wrong and should be changed.
    It reminds me of what is wrong in amateur sports these days. When I was growing up not everybody got off the bench and not everyone got a trophy. This is the Olympics for crying out loud. The best in the WORLD should be competing, not the best from every team. The fact that Jordyn’s scores will almost certainly wind up higher than other’s who did make the finals because they happen to be from another country is nothing short of a crime against sports.

  • laydeecee

    If she really the best, this was the time to prove it! Doesn’t matter how you did up until now, this is the time to show who you are and the only time that most people will remember. That goes for every single sport, to every single athlete, to every single country! You can’t make mistakes this far into the game. THE BEST PERSON TODAY wins the gold! Not the person whom every one THINKS might get it because of how they have performed in the past.

  • ArchiesBoy

    When a rule prevents the best gymnast from competing, that rule should be tossed out.

  • Lotan

    From what I saw Jordyn’s floor routine was seriously underscore and Gabby’s seriously overscored. Gabby practically took a swan dive off of the entire floor. This has been inching its way up since Worlds when Jordyn was clearly better and Gabby kept getting better scores than she should have. Jordyn just barely eeked it out there and it was the same thing during the trials. The Olympic floor judging was so obvious it makes me sick.

  • Rob Taylor

    It is a shame that many of the above comments are directed
    at Gabby Douglas. She also trained, I assumed, as hard as
    Jordyn. You must perform on the day of the competition. This
    rule and the two per team is not new (USA had plenty of clout and time to suggest a change). We assumed that Jprdyn and Gabby would move
    on to the AA. Ali out performed both of them.

    Gabby had one of the best scores on Vault (beat Mahoney and would have qualified 1st if she had a 2nd vault), Bars (event final), Bean (event final). She messed up on Floor and got a 13+ (a terrible score compared to what she has done in prior meetsand less than what Jordyn got). Those who blame Gabby for Jordyn sad outcome should look themselves in the mirror and ask why?

  • MB

    Thank you Rob! I will admit I am a huge Jordyn fan and cried for her when I saw the results, however, let’s not take this out on Gabby- who had amazing performances on the other three events and went into the last round with an almost point and a half lead. The problem here is with the rule. The fact is, this is the Olympics and as much as we want countries bonding with each other and showing the respect, this is also the most desired place for any athlete to make it to in their career and the Olympics should not be about showcasing each country and handing out participation medals. If you are going to claim that the winner of any event is the best in the world, then let them compete against all the bests, not just the top two from every country.

    What’s sad is that gymnastics is an amazing sport and it’s controversies like these and the ambiguity in the scoring system that makes this sport lose its fans. I do believe Jordyn was grossly underscored in her routine but for those of you complaining about Gabby, let’s not forget that she had more deductions in her routine and I believe has a higher start value so although she had a much larger mistake, Jordyn had little mistakes on three events that all added up to just edge her out. It should also be made known that there were four countries that should have a third competitor based on the results so while they may not be ranked in fourth place going into finals, this is a rule that needs to be reviewed because the All Around finals will clearly not have all the best in the world out there vying for the title.

  • Katie

    Okay, seriously? Jordyn Wieber performed so much better than the other girls! Yes, the other American girls performed well, but I think Jordyn Wieber deserves so much more credit for her overall work. I think the judges honestly judged her a bit more harshly and held her to a higher standard than the rest. I definitely think they should eliminate the 2 per country rule, and just have the top 24 compete.

  • Julian

    Your comment is awaiting moderation.

    I find the whole thing a huge travesty. First and foremost, I stand for the fact that Gaby’s mistake on floor was larger than all 3 of the so-called ‘errors’ that Jordyn exhibited and feel she was highly underscored throughout. 2nd, this still only put Jordyn 4th, meaning Jordyn’s score was still higher, overall, than at least half a dozen other countries’ 1st and 2nd, within the last 24hrs. If that isn’t enough, the fact that she’s not received first only twice since 2008 and is the current reigning world champsion, should stand for something as a cherry on top. I’d feel the same way if it was a competitor with those same stats from Chine, Russia, what have you. The biggest difference is that no other competitor can claim any of this who ended up taken third prior to last night. Everyone knows Jordyn has every ability to completely dominate if she was let in. Instead, those that are not even the best are competing. There should be a wild card option for at least 2 countries to send in their third as long as that third’s score is within the top 25% of the final all around prelim scores. This is just sad and my heart goes out to her and her family for having to deal with such a poor rule, that while it has been in place for some time, this is the first time, as I said, we’ve had to watch such a dominant and time proven athlete be kicked to the curb.

  • GrizzyLyn

    The new rule, in my opinion, is far from stupid. The Olympics are about every country providing their best athletes to represent them in the Olympic games. The new rule gives all of the participating countries that chance. The top two gymnastic athletes in each country win those spots and get to compete in the all around competition.

    If Jordyn Wieber was one of those top two athletes, than she would have qualified. She will still have a chance to realize her dream and win a medal, just not the all-around medal. Meanwhile, instead of focusing on the “travesty” of Jordyn Wieber not qualifying for the all-around, the two members of team who did well enough to qualify are being robbed of their chance to shine.

    I think it is terrible the way the accomplishments of the Gabby and Ally are being criticized on this board. To begin with, Gabby’s starting point value in her floor routine was higher than Jordyn’s, which is why she ended up with a higher score after stepping out of bounds. While I myself don’t always agree with the judges, in this case it hardly had anything to do with the judges being unfair. After all, Gabby and Ally scored higher on most other events than Jordyn did.

    The only injustice I have noticed is how the media hypes up certain athletes before they have even won. As I’m sitting here watching the team competition tonight, Jordyn’s teammates are again scoring higher than her in both vault and now parallel bars. I think the correct athletes were chosen to represent the United States in the all around. Jordyn is not the only one who deserved to win. It is sad the way the media put that pressure on Jordyn. Every one of these girls has the talent and is deserving of the all around title, not just one. These girls are part of a team, and should be supportive of each other. The media hype surrounding just one member of a team is very unfair to that team. Especially when an athlete starts to believe that hype and think that they are better than the remaining members of the team they are a part of. During the all around competition, the only team member not hugging and congratulating her teammates after each routine was Jordyn. The only one crying when the winners of the all around spots were announced was Jordyn.

    Tonight, watching the team competition, I am glad to see a happy and supportive Jordyn. Maybe without all of the pressure on her by the media to stand out, she can relax and enjoy being part of her team again. This is how things should be. After all, this is the team that Jordan needs if she wants a gold medal, which is also the way that it should be.

  • Michelle

    I agree with GrizzLynn. All of these girls are very young and extremely talented. The media went way overboard in pumping up Jordan ahead of the competition, assuming she would win the gold. No matter how good you are, you must be able to perform when it counts to win the prize in question. It’s too bad Jordyn had an “off” day when it really counted.